Elza
Exam Look at the image and explain was done technically to convey the meaning and mood of this image? What is the mood of this image? What is the photographer saying or what story is being told here? What emotion is evoked inside of you? Using your knowledge of framing, angles, elements/principles of design, placement and lighting (as well as your awareness of how images are subjective to the viewer) thoughtfully deconstruct this image and explain how it is a significant image. Discuss the technical process that was used to achieve this.
This picture was set to grayscale and it was burned by the artist to make the mood gloomy, sad, depressed, etc. I think that the story being told is that this girl is sad about something. Not something the recently happened at one point, but something that has been going on for a long period of time. At first she was traumatized, but now she's used to being lonely, she's used to the cold feeling of pain. In this image, there are implied diagonals, movement, contrast, and balance. The implied diagonals are the poles of the fence she is standing behind. The movement in the picture is brought upon by the diagonals in the picture, which make it seem as if there is movement within the picture. There is low and high contrast. In some areas, there is very high contrast such as the fence and her parts of her dress that are lighter. However, there are also parts of the picture that have low contrast, such as the pavement and building which are more gray than dark or light. I think think this picture withholds balance because around her, there is the same amount of light and dark. Directly behind and in front of her there is high contrasted darkness, and on the sides of her, it's not so much as dark. To achieve high and low contrast, and balance in this case, on photoshop you can use the contrast adjustment, you can also use the burn and dodge tool.
This picture was set to gray scale and was burned and dodged. The mood that this picture portrays, to me, is that this baby, the part of the picture that was dodged, has her entire life in front of her, she's in the "morning" part of her life. However her grandmother is burned to show the darkness of life. Her days are numbered and she's in the "night" part of her life. This picture brings two emotions to me; 1) happiness, 2) sadness. Happiness because the baby's life has just now begun, but sadness because the grandmother will die. I think lots of texture is used in this picture because you can see every one of the woman's wrinkles clearly, the grass and landscape behind the two is very precise, as if you can touch the grass and dirt, only in the foreground thought. Also, this picture is low depth of field which makes you focus on the woman and child. This picture also has low contrast. The picture is very gray, and there isn't really any dark-dark or light-light parts of the picture. To adjust the contrast, you can use the contrast tool or you can use the burn and dodge tools. To change the depth of field, you can either use the blur/sharpen tool on photoshop, or adjust your camera by changing the f-stop to high or low depending on the picture you want; high or low depth of field. (By Nicholas Nixon)
There is a lot of color in this picture, so to me, this picture portrays a happy feeling. This picture looks as if it's a summer's day so it reminds me of my summer memories for the past years and it brings me happy feelings. To me, there is no story behind the picture. To me, this is just a landscape picture that has no meaning, really. In this picture, there is implied diagonals, unity, and emphasis. The implied diagonals and the emphasis work together. The implied diagonals are on the street. They're the way the street goes into the middle. The diagonals imitates emphasis the the center of the picture, it brings your eyes to the center of the photo. The only was to achieve diagonals in a picture is by what you're taking the picture of, which will or will not contain diagonals. However, you can accomplish emphasis in a picture by burning the edges of the picture so that something catches or draws your eye as soon as you look at the picture. (by Doug Rickard)
Usually, for dark or grayscale pictures, a gloomy or sad mood is set, however, when I look at this woman, she reminds me of my grandmother so I feel warmth, love, and joy when I look at this picture. The woman in the picture, looks wise, elegant, maybe she has money, she looks someone devious as well. Although this picture is in grayscale, there is much lighting in the picture, the picture is very light and has low contrast. There is texture, value, and contrast within this picture. The texture in this picture is her wrinkles and her hair, they're almost touchable. The value is the difference between darks and lights. This picture has dark darks, light lights, and the grays in between. The artist must have used the contrast scale or the burn/brush tool. (by Herb Ritts)
This last picture brings me sad feelings. This picture is very dark and gloomy and makes me think about death. The story behind this picture is that the artist, Duane Michals took two pictures of himself, one laying down, and one standing up. This picture represents his undecided fate as a homosexual male in the 1900's. He didn't know whether or not he was going to get AIDS or whether or not he had already had it. All of his friends were getting sick and dying and he didn't know whether or not it was his turn next. There is high contrast, balance, value, and space within this picture. The high and low contrast is the dark-darks and light-lights. Both people in the picture are very very dark, high contrast, and the space above the man laying down is very light, also high contrast. The difference between high and low contrast is the value. This is brought upon the different shades of darkness. There is balance in this picture because there is the same amount of darkness as there is light, and vise versa. And, last but not least, there is space. The space is above the laying-down man. Contrast, balance, and value can all be done by the burn and dodge tools and the contrast tool, also by setting the picture in grayscale "mode." (by Duane Michals)
Exam
Look at the image and explain was done technically to convey the meaning and mood of this image? What is the mood of this image? What is the photographer saying or what story is being told here? What emotion is evoked inside of you? Using your knowledge of framing, angles, elements/principles of design, placement and lighting (as well as your awareness of how images are subjective to the viewer) thoughtfully deconstruct this image and explain how it is a significant image. Discuss the technical process that was used to achieve this.